#skellig ring

Kerry Cliffs, Skellig Ring, Foilnageragh, Portmagee, County Kerry, Ireland

A hardy dandelion, somewhere on Skellig Ring (a scenic detour on the Ring of Kerry), Co. Kerry, Ireland.

On Saturday, we got an early start and began our tour around the Skellig Ring. I'm somewhat sure that our first stop was Valentia Island, but with a view like this, who cares about the details:

While the view was spectacular, let me recommend that if you decide to visit the Skellig Ring or the Ring of Kerry (which you should definitely do), maybe don't go at the end of January. Take this with a grain of salt, since I am from sunny California, but the winds I experienced on this trip were the strongest I have been in in my entire life. We were advised not to go too close to the edge of the cliffs because of the danger of getting blown off. Let me tell you, my hair was a bird's nest for the entire weekend. However, we were lucky: there wasn't any fog all weekend, so the phenomenal views were left unencumbered. 

Next we went to Geoghan Mt. and Fogher Cliffs, where a farmer spoke to us about his cows and we even got to meet a few calves! 

(The little calf was so excited by all the people that it kept moving around, hence the blurry picture.)

It was still incredibly windy, but the fear of dropping her phone (or of being cast away into the Atlantic ocean) didn't stop this blogger from capturing the view:

As you can probably see, the countryside does't exactly emulate the greenery that we so often associate with Ireland. This is due to the fact that the west coast of Ireland was the most heavily impacted by the Potato famine in the 1800s, leaving the land pretty infertile to this day. No less beautiful, though.

At this point, I don't completely remember where we were or where we were going, so just enjoy some scenery:

Ah, I remember now: next, we visited some old forts and had another farmer speak to us, this one being a sheep farmer. The highlight: meeting two one-week old lambs. I didn't hold one, but I got to admire their adorableness before going off to see the forts.

Here's some fluffy sheep:

This time, there was hail intermixed with the wind as we walked through the muddy sheep pastures. Against, January probably wasn't the best time of year to visit.

The first fort was the Leacanabuile Stone Fort.

The view from the top of the fort was pretty nice:

After that, the Cahergall Stone Fort:

Then we visited a castle, but unfortunately, at this point, my phone unexpectedly died, so I couldn't take any pictures.

We had free time for a few hours back at the hotel, which many people spent exploring the small town of Cahersiveen where our hotel was located. I've felt a little out of place even after a month of living in Cork--for instance, I just discovered a few days ago that people generally wave at buses to get them to stop instead of just expecting them to stop if you're sitting at the bus stop. But in Cahersiveen, a small Irish town where everyone knows each other, we Americans stuck out like sore thumbs. A lot of people got off of the bus in town instead of back at the hotel, and they all entered the nearby bakery, causing the shopkeeper to crack up at the sight.

Sara and I visited a local church, the Daniel O'Connell Memorial Church, which needed special permission to be named that since it isn't named after a saint. We also stopped by a French cafe that was almost fresh out of hot chocolate, since apparently according to the (very apologetic) owner, a bunch of Americans came in earlier and practically cleaned her out. Instead, I had a pastry with chocolate and cream that was absolutely delicious, so I wasn't complaining.

After another awesome dinner (fish and chips and a chocolate brownie) we got to meet a local singer and sing along to some Irish tunes. It was a ton of fun, and I'll probably have "The Wild Rover" stuck in my head for the rest of my time in Ireland.

This was followed by some trivia! Instead of playing to win some chocolates, Sara and I volunteered to keep score for every group. While we didn't win chocolate, we did get free drinks and some slate coasters for being scorekeepers, which was a pleasant surprise!